i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. good morning, everybody. hope you had a great thanksgiving. coming up on "early today" -- the black friday shopping is underway. clearly not for the feint of heart. we have bargain hunting strategies you want to hear. the giant balloons took flight and so did thankful hear an update on what would be the world's largest floating city. a mile long. schools, a park, an airport, and room for 50,000 residents. and space x-box. elon musk calls it off.

and the motor city wins a big one on a nasty weather day. "early today" starts right now. this is "early today" for friday, november 29th. good morning everyone. i'm t.j. holmes. while many of you were enjoying family and friends and a good meal, a lot of your neighbors ate quickly. so they could get out and be a part of this madness. look at this line. macy's in atlanta. and this one from a mall near houston. black friday started more than 12 hours ago and the day is just a few hours old. and nbc's jay gray is out with some of the shoppers at the mall of america. what you got going on there, man? we're trying to find you. >> reporter: good morning, t.j. this is something you won't see much of today. it's an empty corridor. we're in between shifts, if you will. the late people have gone home. materially shift is just starting now. it's funny, this black friday merging with thanksgiving this

year. not everybody is buying that. the dash for deals, the push for presents. the rush for a little retail therapy actually began just after all the turkey was gone. >> i live for this day and take this day off of work every year. dinner is cooked, my belly is full. and now i'm ready to shop. >> reporter: the lines stretched around stores, shoppers all searching for the same thing. >> trying to save some money. it's the holidays. >> reporter: starting early and analysts say even stretching past the weekend. >> i think black friday is gaining relevance because it is becoming more of a season than one day in particular. >> reporter: not everyone is sold on the idea of shopping thanksgiving day. >> they should all be closed on thanksgiving. it's thanksgiving. >> reporter: if there is a debate about what to do on thursday -- >> football, beer, pretzels and food.

right? that's what it's about. >> reporter: friday's focus is clear. finding that perfect gift at a great price. and here's the requested news. black friday not to bad for retailers this year. shoppers will spend an average of $650. that's up 11% from black friday last year. back to you, t.j. >> good news for some. thank you, jay. everybody, you may have strategies already. it may be a good one. some smart shopping strategies now you'll want for yourself and you can share with your loved ones as well. chris clackum talked with the expert. >> reporter: more stores opening thanksgiving followed by black friday, small business saturday and then cyber monday. this is the week american shoppers will be inundated like never before.

>> at this point, the consumer could be facing a little bit of deal overload. and it's hard to figure out where to start and where to end. >> reporter: that's why retail experts suggest you adapt a strategy for shopping that starts with staying connected. >> sometimes we use the target app to download coupons. and then can scan the coupons. >> reporter: and include social media. >> i've seen this cartwheel app on my facebook a lot. my friends use it. >> reporter: they say make a list of what you are buying for whom, sign up for e-mail alerts and research before you shop. >> because there are so many deals coming from all these different sources it is hard to take advantage of them as they come. >> reporter: if your plans for holiday shopping mean venturing no further than the keyboard, here's another tip. >> the majority of stores available in the store are available online. stores start early on thanksgiving morning. so you can do both. >> reporter: and when trying to

help santa fulfill a child's wish list know the best deal on toys happen right before christmas. chris clackum, nbc news. let's turn to florida. there was a thanksgiving day miracle of sorts. the mother who put the state's controversial stand your ground law back in the spotlight is now free on bail. marissa alexander was sentenced to 25 years for firing what she called a warning shot at her husband. a jury convicted her on multiple charges of assault with a fire a.m. the second conviction was overturned by an appeals court. she was released wednesday. her new trial is scheduled for march 31st. turn to the white house. if first family had a good meal. the president snuck away for awhile. the commander in chief calling

service members from every branch of the military. as tense of thousands of american troops celebrated thanksgiving overseas, of those, some 43,000 remain in afghanistan. thanksgiving day behind us with good deeds and random acts of kindness. start with ohio governor john kasich. more than 400 homes were evacuated after a train derailed causing a chemical spill. the rail road provided the families with a free thanksgiving day record. possible 30,000 people laced up for the run to feed the hungry in sacramento. they hoped to haraise 900,000 dollars. the jut going boston mayor served people less fortunate. got a good meal. a warm reception. he's been doing this for the

past two decades. in detroit now, some of the folks there, cold weather. gets dicey up there ever now and again. this was a mess. multiple accidents throughout the motor city. conditions so bad that interstate 75 was temporarily shut down. let's go to bill karins now. >> the snow is over with. their lions won. good mornings, everyone. tranquil weather conditions in most of the states. the northwest is about to get worse. temperatures not too bad but it is cold portland to medford. the low off the coast is lurking. some rains shifting north ward. a little bit toward santa barbara. another plume just to the south off the coast of san diego.

we can see this thif that one h pa back on shore. anybody traveling across the country looking good. the forecast today, maybe some showers in l.a., later today in seattle. otherwise, clear for your travels. the next winter storm on the way. t.j., the week end forecast is probably the worst of the travel will be in the northwest. details ahead. >> bill, thank you so much. we turn to the north koreans in a moment. they're at it again. also, best in show. you'll meet the winner of the

national dog show. and a floating city for 50,000. do you want to live on a photoing city? we're back in two minutes.

11 minutes after the hour. welcome back, everybody. we're now less than 24 hours before president obama's self-imposed deadline for fixes heal healthcare.gov. officials say the vast majority of people will have a better experience. as people try to enroll for health care the technology team is scrambling to build a new part of the website. the easy app would permit people eligible for financial aid to sign up for coverage without calculating an exact subsidy amount. which has been a major stumbling block so far. and an american fox hound named jewel stole the show. the 3-year-old was select best in show at the national dog sew. beating contestants from seven canine groups. the united nations nuclear agency says it is seeing

releases of steam and water at a nuclear plant in north korea, all of which indicates they may try to restart the reactor. south korea's ministry says it is aware and monitoring the situation. the icy comet, that was speeding toward the sun. well, comes word now it may have fizzled out. still, scientists are hopeful. they're seeing remnants of the comet continuing to journey past the sun. stocks enter this final friday of november in record territory. cnbc reports that when the s&p the dow are in positive territory for the month 80% of the time december is also a positive month for investors. japan setting standards with a luxury bullet train that will travel at speeds of over 160 miles per hour. and on the luxury tip, plans are

in the works to build the first ever floating city. the freedom ship will be 25 stories high, a mile long. and house 50,000 residents. it would have schools, hospitals, shops, even its own airport. it would be powered by solar panels and wave energy. it would travel the globe. when is this thing going to be up and running? as soon as designers get the $10 billion to build the thing. we turn next to the $50,000 time-out. jason kidd. most prominent moment as a head coach is when he tells one of his players, hit me!

16 minutes past the hour. let's turn to sports. a lot of you were in front of the television set yesterday. a lot of games on tap. steelers and ravens, here's an odd play. the kicker tried to become a running back. it usually doesn't work that well. after miscommunication. this is a fun moment for me. a touchdown dance from emmanuel sanders. recognize that? ray lewis used to do that all the time. this is a carry moment. leveon bell. the helmet pops off. he's been evaluated for a

concussion. ravens would win this game, 22-20. also, america's team, the cowboys, they like to call themselves, they broke a thanksgiving day tradition. for the first time in about 40 years, they played at home in the blue jerseys. the raiders were lighting up the cowboys pretty well. 21-7 was the lead going into the second quarter. dallas got a touchdown. they copull this thing off. 31-24. detroit now. rough weather there. for the first time in ten years on thanksgiving day, the lions actually won their thanksgiving day game. congratulations to the city of detroit on that. they did beat the packers, 40-10. good news for denver broncos head coach john fox, he trourns work on monday. he underwent aortic valve replacement on november 4th.

next is the favorite story. sports story of the year maybe so far. jason kidd being find now $50,000 for intentionally spilling a drink on the court. see that. you can see him mouth to the player, hit me. he was trying to stall so he could get a time-out. he was out of them. now, they have come down hard on him. $50,000. the team ended up losing the game any way, 99-94. and lebron james posted photos of his teammates. they had a nice thanks giving meal at the king james house. up top and then down below. they had to take their shoes off when they come into the house. a lot of people have those rules. and a mishap in the sochi torch jersey. a little flame came off. it lit the guy's arm on fire. they quickly put this out. no serious injuries to report.

a lot of you looking forward to movies and being entertained while you're shopping and the food is digesting. the hottest holiday movies this season coming next.

welcome back. if you're heading out this morning, bring the umbrella around santa barbara. light rain heading your way off the coast. and late today, some rain in the areas of seattle. more or less after dark today. a good chance of rain sat,

sunday, maybe even into monday. a good-sized storm coming down. initial concern it may get snow at the low elevations. it looks to be confined mostly to the higher elevations and areas of eastern washington state. northern idaho gets it good, too. ski areas will love it. it will be wet and at the higher elevatio elevations, snowy. that's the next big storm. thank you. a lot of you all are headed to the movies. nbc's rafael seth gets you a closer look. >> reporter: with the "hunger games catching fire" at the box office look for more hobbit happening. with the desolation of smaog. >> there's a lot of high expectation for the sequel. >> reporter: another sequel with high expectations is the followup to the 2004 comedy

"anchorman." >> it's developed a cult of fans. >> reporter: another comedian downplays the laughs. >> directed by and stars ben stiller and has a forrest gump feeling and quality to it. >> reporter: and some oscar-winning performances. >> "august osage county" has the big acting fireworks. meryl streep is ferocious in this film. >> reporter: others hoping for a december to remember can be seen in "saving mr. banks." >> stop! >> it's a true story of how walt disney managed to persuade the author of "mary poppins" to make her book into a disney film. >> reporter: a form mer oscar winning combo reunites. >> it's the fourth pairing of martin scorsese and leonardo dicaprio.

>> robert de niro and sylvester sta stallone go toe to toe if the box office. >> i think there is really something for everybody this holiday season which is going to lead to big bucks at the box office. >> the odds of that are ever in our favor. that's the holiday box office preview. >> seriously. what are you looking forward to? >> i mean, scorsese and dicaprio are back together. you have to see it. >> not grudge match? >> it would be on the list of ones that are so bad they're the ones you have to see. >> that's our movie review this morning with bill. this is "early today." we hope this is your first stop of the day here on nbc.

leading the news in "usa today" -- three unpublished j.d. salinger stories leaked online. the ocean full of bowling balls leaked under mysterious circumstances. and on nbcnews.com last-minute glitch aborts space x's thanksgiving rocket launch. the unmanned falcon nine rocket was set to launch when a last-second order to abort the megs w mission was issued. the reason was due to a slower than expected thrust ramp. that has been problematic. now far look at stories you might have missed. there might be a grinch living near one mall in north carolina. salvation army bell ringer had his kettle stolen with about $50 inside of it. are you kidding me? in thailand tensions are rising in the capital after more

anti-government protests. this morning about a thousand demonstrators broke into the army head quarters in bangkok. in colorado three people are dead after a house fire. investigators say it may have been intentionally lit. they are looking for the handyman who reportedly worked and lived in the home until last week. in china an inventor dedicated an entire year to building an interactive robot made of scrap metal and second-hand electrical equipment. the result was this monstrosity, or a massive robot standing at 6.8 feet tall. weighing about 550 pounds. the robot can move limbs and grab objects. he was built to show off the skills of the inventor. he's hoping to get a job inventing. >> i don't know what you're going to use it for.

kids' parties? >> get a beer out of the fridge. >> it may take awhile. the beer would get cold by the time it comes back to you. a barack friday proetest expected at walmart stores today. they focus on low wages offered to employees. the white house christmas tree ariving today. michelle obama will welcome the official holiday tree. it will be displayed in the blue room next month. and happy birthday to mariano rivera. 44 years old. don cheadle turning 49. and hall of fame dodgers broadcaster, vin scully. 86. thank you so much for watching "early today." sure hope you have a good one.

a violent thanksgiving in san jose as a suspect is shot dead by police right in the middle of a quiet neighborhood. what police say he did to force an officer to open fire. plus. >> i looked down and my skirt is on fire. i freak out because i'm on fire. >> the teenager set on fire on board an ac transit bus speaking publicly. what he has to say about the 16-year-old boy accused of the crime. and if you are waking up early to hit the stores you better get going. we're going to show you the mad rush in one of the popular shopping spots. let's take a live look outside. a little